I have become impatient over the past few years with the concept of “buyer’s remorse.” This notion pops up anywhere a freely elected Republican legislative majority and a freely elected Republican governor get together and put in place policies of the sort they were freely elected to enact. Suddenly, vast numbers of people see Republicans behaving like Republicans and profess themselves shocked — SHOCKED! — to find that there is wingnuttery going on in here. We’ve seen this with Walker in Wisconsin, Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Rick Scott in Florida. And, “But they didn’t say they were going to do this when they ran!” is a vain and witless excuse. Republicans do what Republicans do.

Look, folks. Everybody knew who was behind Walker in Wisconsin, and why they were behind them. The same is true of Kasich and Snyder and all the rest of them. Hell, Rick Scott was a convicted felon. Anyone who didn’t know any of this either wasn’t paying attention, or didn’t give enough of a damn for it to matter and voted for these guys anyway. Which, come to think of it, fairly well sums up what happened in the 2010 midterms. The country handed itself over to ignorance and apathy and let those two scamps run amok in the process of self-government. The country doesn’t get to wake up, blinking, in 2011 and wonder how all this happened.Continue Reading »

Frank Bruni wrote Sunday that Americans get worked up to no good end over news that isn’t really important. He and many of his colleagues are like factory workers who dump toxins into a river and then complain about all the dead fish. More here.

If we had the same per person health care costs as people in Germany, Canada, or any other wealthy country we would be looking at long-term budget surpluses, not deficits. But controlling costs involves reducing the income and profits of the 1 percent. It means reducing payments to insurers, drug companies, medical equipment manufacturers and highly paid medical specialists.

Rather than control costs, the folks in Washington would rather make people pay even more for health care. This is why we see proposals like raising the age for Medicare eligibility to 67 or turning the program into a voucher system. Both plans are likely to protect the income of health care industry, while making it even more difficult for current or retired workers to cover their health care costs.

The public should realize that “generational warfare” is an agenda that was deliberately designed by the 1 percent to distract the rest of us from the class war that they have been successfully waging over the last three decades. Rather than have a public debate on the policies that have redistributed so much income upward, the 1 percent want to pit children against their parents and grandparents, forcing them to fight over crumbs.

In this context, the only victory that the supercommittee can hand to the 99 percent is a blank sheet of paper. People will have enough things to worry about this Thanksgiving without adding a Congressional plan to slash their Social Security and Medicare.

You know, this movement is only going to work if everyone gets involved. Unfortunately, I’m guessing the Democrats will soon give us a good reason:

More than 1,000 senior citizens and their supporters marched from Chicago’s Federal Plaza to the intersection of Jackson and Clark Street Monday morning to protest proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At the intersection, more than 40 protesters, 15 of them seniors affiliated with the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, stood or sat in the street, arms linked, blocking traffic.

Amid chants demanding that the cuts be forestalled — with suggestions for alternatives, including tax hikes — 43 demonstrators were escorted from the intersection (see video, above) by police and issued citations for pedestrian failure to “exercise due care,” or for blocking traffic. Those cited included four protesters using assisted mobility devices and at least one centenarian.

Judy Moses said she was glad to receive the citation–her second in her quest to maintain funding for programs that benefit seniors, following an arrest for blocking traffic in December at a similar protest.

“When I was younger, I never did protests,” she said. “I was a silent majority. Now, I’m ready to make noise.”

Then they rushed to pass their Castle Doctrine legislation – you know, the one that allows people to kill anyone who enters their home. (Even though the Milwaukee County D.A. said the laws already in place permit people to shoot in cases of legitimate self defense.)

“AB 69 changes Wisconsin law by providing a defense for irrational people armed with deadly force. Under its provisions, malevolent, reckless, or paranoid people who shoot trick-or-treaters or repairmen on their porch will be presumed to be acting in self-defense.”

“…it provides a solid defense, and a favorable jury instruction, for any man who kills his wife in the family home and lies about it in court.”

Oh yeah, that last one? Protection for domestic abusers isn’t a bug, it’s a feature! You know Walker’s Wisconsin: They passed it anyway!

And now the state’s gun nuts at Wisconsin Carry Inc. want to extend that “right” outside the home with “stand your ground” legislation — basically, so you can shoot people anywhere you feel threatened.

What is it with people like this? I don’t understand it. (Not the lobbyists, they’re working for a fat paycheck.) I mean, what is it with the regular people who get into causes like this? I always wonder about whether certain (ahem) personal inadequacies drive this sort of fixation on domination and destruction. Or maybe they have “Deadwood” fantasies. Whatever it is, they make me tense.

This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters’ mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.